Roll collar



March 14, 1950 JIV. (559M 2,500,910

ROLL COLLAR Filed Oct. 2, 1947 INVENTOR. JACOB 1/. COHN m KM ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 14, 1956 UNITED STATS NT OFFICE Claims.

This invention relates to a collar for an article of apparel,

More particularly it relates to collars for shirts,

The first portion of a clean shirt to become mussed or show signs of wear is the collar. Collars become wrinkled, curled and dirty before the other portions of the shirt because they are exposed more to the atmospheric conditions and to perspiration from the neck of the wearer. The collars are also apt to become wrinkled because of the frequency with which the collar is bent due to movement of the head and neck of the wearer, etc. To improve the resistance of the collar to wrinkling, wilting, etc., various means have been suggested and employed. For example, fused collars which comprise a layer of laminated fabrics made by uniting two or more pieces of fabrics by means of thermoplastic threads or materials have been suggested and are used extensively. Even with this type of collar the points of the collar will curl and become otherwise distorted. To overcome curl in the points of the collar it has also been proposed to provide for the insertion of removable stays in the collar points. For example, a slot is provided on the under surface of the collar points and small strips of relatively stiff material such as Celluloid is provided to be inserted in the slots during wearing. These stays must be removed during laundering and are often lost. Furthermore, they are sometimes difiicult to insert in a freshly laundered shirt and so ordinarily they are left out by the wearer.

Recently the roll type of collar has become popular in the trade. Aside from different style effects which it produces the roll collar has certain other advantages such as not being easily distorted by a heavy tie and being very well adapted to be worn either open as a sport shirt or closed as a dress shirt. With r011 collars the points of the collar are ordinarily made longer than usual so that there is more of the point to curl. The roll referred to is a convex outward curve in the collar between the neck band and the points.

I have now found that it is possible to produce a roll collar which has a smooth even curvature and which has much greater resistance to wrinkling and crushing than previous collars. The stiff smooth roll or curvature which my collar has is inherent from the construction of the collar and is not dependent upon the addition of stays or similar types of structures.

An ob ect of this invention is to produce a roll collar with a smooth even curvature and a natural,

roll.

Another object of the invention is to provide a roll collar which has superior resistance to crushing and wrinkling when worn.

Another object of the invention is to produce a roll collar which has superior resistance to wilting due to perspiration and superior resistance to undesirable curling of the points of the collar.

These objects and others ancillary thereto are obtained by including in the collar construction a flexible but stiff fabric insert. This insert is roughly triangular in shape, the triangle having two straight sides and a third side which is cut on a bias. The angle between the straight sides of the insert is determined by the angle between the neck band and the front of the collar point. The insert is attached to the collar adjacent its straight sides in any desired way as by sewing, adhesively uniting, etc. one straight side of the insert extends and is attached along the front line of the point and the other straight side extends along and is attached adjacent tn; neck band of the shirt. The third side of the insert is not sewed or otherwise attached to the fabrics of the collar. This third side being cut on a bias has considerable flexibility and when the ends of the straight sides are placed under the normal tension as obtained by turning the collar down to wearing position, the bias out of the free side produces a smooth even curvature in the insert. Preferably a plane woven liner type of fabric is employed for the liner. The insert is out so that the direction of greatest strength of the material of the insert is along the line parallel to the neck band. That is the insert is attached to the neck band along a line substantially parallel to the warp of the fabric.

The novel features characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view partly cut away of a shirt containing the collar of the invention.

Figure 2 is a detailed view of one of the collar points.

Figure 3 is a detailed view of the insert.

In Figure 1 the collar 3 is shown attached to the shirt l and the collar is closed, in the drawing, by the button 2. As shown in the drawing the collar from an area adjacent the button 2 to the points or 5 has a convex curvature with respect to the remainder of the shirt. This curvature is greatest at the points 22 and 23. Although the collar is shown attached to a dress shirt it is obvious that it may be attached to any type of sport or dress shirt whether they may be mens, boys or ladies shirts. The collar may also be employed in the manufacture of jackets, coats, sweaters and any type of garment which employs a collar.

The collar itself is substantially the same as the ordinary collar except for the insert heretofore referred to and shown at 12 in the drawing. The collar shown comprises an outside fabric it! (which may be of the same material as the shirt or may be the shirt material combined or fused to a stiffening fabric), a backing H and the insert 62. The parts of the collar are attached together in the usual way as for example by the stitches 13. In order to attach the inserts (there are two for each collar) no additional sewing on the shirt is necessary since the straight sides iii and it may be attached at the same time that the collar is sewed together at the neck band and the front point portion of the collar respectively, and it is customary to unite the front and back portions ill and H of an ordinary collar along such lines. The side i5 is not necessarily attached at the edge. In the insert of Figure 3 the direction of greatest strength is along line -43 and it is adjacent to this line that the insert is attached to the neck band.

The insert l2 as shown in detail in Figure 3 comprises a straight side M, '-a straight side and a bias out side It. The angle at which the straight sides 54 and I5 are attached to the collar will depend upon the shape of the collar which is being made. In Figure 3 this angle is the angle between the line it and'the side 14. This angle is about the same or slightly less than the angle between the front line of the collar point and the neck band 2 of the shirt when the collar is turned up. By attaching the insert to the collar as shown there is sufficient tensionproduced between the ends of the straight sides [4 and 15 upon turning the collar down in wearing position to cause the-insert between the corner H andthe side 6 roll or curve and thus shape the points of the collar to give it the desired roll.

The way in which the insert is attached to-the collar is best shown in Figure 2. In this figure the end 25 of the insert has been detached toshow the top fabric ill underneath. As shown in Figure 2 the under portion of a collar may contain additional stitching Ell for reinforcement. This is entirely optional.

The insert preferably doesnot extendquite to the point of the collar. In this way the bias cut of the side 15 does not interfere with the edge 2'! of the collar. Likewise the .side l5 ofthe insert extends only a short way around the neck band. In other words the sides 14 .and I!) of the insert are not too much different in length, so that the strain on the insert required to produce the roll is not excessive. The insert may be made of any relatively stiff flexible material. A plain woven, stiff, resilient type of fabric such as employed for linings in suits and overcoats is a very desirable material for this insert. This fabric may be made at least partially of wool which has great resilience or of artificial wool such as that made from'casein. Resilient types of nylon fabricsare also veryadvantageousin this process although inthis case care must be taken to avoid fusion of the nylon fabrics with the other materials of the collar. The insert fabrics may be especially treated to render them resilient and crush resistant as by treatment with resinous material such as urea formaldehyde resins, etc. As heretofore stated it is very desirable to cut the fabric of the insert in such a way that the direction of greatest strength is along the line parallel to the neck band.

Contrary to expectations it has been found that after laundering the shirt the roll of the collar is actually improved. In fact, almost any manipulation of the collar such as ironing or working with the fingers, etc., causes the insert to roll more.

It will be seen that this invention provides a roll type of collar which has a smooth even roll or curvature which is more resistant to wilting and crushing than collars of the ordinary type.

When a fabric is used for the making of the insert which would have a likelihood of unravelling in the course of its use and laundering, it is desirable to enclose the fabric or treat it to prevent such unravelling. For example, the insert may be enclosed in other cloth in any suitable way, as for example by covering the insert with a fabric and stitching the covered material to the fabric in some suitable manner.

Alternatively, the exposed edges of the insert alone may be protected by means of a fabric folded over the marginal exposed areas and stitched thereto as for exampleone-quarter inch in from the edge. The covered material which thus protects the insert against ravelling not only does not impair the roll effect obtained by the insert but may improve that roll effect.

As a further alternative in the protection of the insert against unravelling, the exposed cut edges of the insert may be coated with a plastic material which acts to bind these exposed edges and prevents their unravelling. A suitable plastic material is for example, a cellulosic lacquer, such as cellulose acetate in a solvent, which is applied to the edges of the insert by dipping the insert in a solution or by brushing the plastic solution on to the edges. Upon drying the plastic sets and binds the exposed cut edges of the insert, thus preventing unravelling.

Although certain specific embodiments of this invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that many modification thereof are possible. This invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except insofar as is necessitated by the prior art and by the sprit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a collar for an article of apparel which has a neck band, said collar being of the soft type adapted to fold over adjacent the neck band and having at leastonepoint, the improvement which comprises a three-sided pliable insert made of relatively stiff fabric attached to said collar, said fabric being relativel non-extensible in the vdirection of at least one of the Warp and woof threads, but having a greater extensibility in a diagonal direction with respect .to the warp and woof, one side of said three-sided insert being attached to the collar along the line where the collaris attached tothe neck band,.one side of said three-sided insert being attached along the edge of the collar leading to said point and :the said third side being cut .on a bias so that the attachment .of theinsert along theother two sides thereof causes the collar to roll from the neckband when the collar is turned down from said neckband, the intermediate portion of said third side of the insert being unattached to the-remainder of the collar.

2. In a collar for an article of apparel which has a neck band, said collar being of the soft type adapted to fold over adjacent the neck band and having at least one point, the improvement which comprises a three-sided pliable insert made of relatively stiff fabric attached to 'said collar, said fabric being relatively non-extensible in the direction of at least one of the warp and woof threads, but having a greater extensibility in a diagonal direction with respect to the warp and woof, one side of said three-sided insert being attached to the collar along the line where the collar is attached to the neck band, one side of said three-sided insert being attached along the edge of the collar leading to said point and the said third side being cut on a bias so that the attachment of the insert along the other two sides thereof causes the collar to roll from the neckband when the collar is turned down from said neckband the third side of said insert extending almost to the end of said point, the intermediate portion of said third side of the insert being unattached to the remainder of the collar.

3. In a collar for an article of apparel which has a neck band, said collar being of soft type adapted to fold over adjacent the neck band and having at least one point, the improvement which comprises in combination with said collar, 3, threesided pliable insert made of relatively stiff planewoven, liner fabric, said fabric being relatively non-extensible in the direction of at least one of the warp and woof threads, but having a greater extensibility in a diagonal direction with respect to the warp and woof, one side of said threesided insert being attached to the collar along the line where the collar is attached to the neck band, one side of said three-sided insert being attached along the edge of the collar leading to said point and the said third side being cut on a bias so that the attachment of the insert along the other two sides thereof causes the collar to roll from the neckband when the collar is turned down from said neckband, the intermediate portion of said third side of the insert being unattached to the remainder of the collar.

4. In a collar for an article of apparel which has a neck band, said collar being of soft type adapted to fold over adjacent the neck band and having at least one point, the improvement'which comprises in combination with said collar, a threesided pliable insert made of relatively stiff planewoven, liner fabric, said fabric being relatively non-extensible in the direction of at least one of the warp and woof threads, but having a greater extensibility in a diagonal direction with respect to the warp and woof, one side of said threesided insert being sewed to the collar, along the line where the collar is attached to the neck band, one side of said three-sided insert being sewed along the edge of the collar leading to said point and the said third side being cut on a bias so that the attachment of the insert along the other two sides thereof causes the collar to roll from the neckband when the collar is turned down from said neckband the third side of said insert extending almost to the end of said point, said third side of the insert being unattached to the remainder of the collar.

5. In a collar for an article of apparel Which has a neck band, said collar being of the soft type adapted to fold over adjacent the neck band and having at least one point, the improvement which comprises in combination with said collar, a threesided pliable insert made of relatively stiff plane woven liner fabric, said fabric being relatively non-extensible in the direction of at least one of the warp and woof threads, but having a greater extensibility in a diagonal direction with respect to the warp and woof, said fabric being cut so that a first side is cut substantially parallel to the direction of greatest strength, said first side be ing sewed to the collar along the line where the collar is attached to the neck band thereof,v a second side of said three-sided insert being sewed along the edge of the collar leading to said point and the said third side being cut on a bias so that the attachment of the insert along the other two sides thereof causes the collar to roll from the neckband when the collar is turned down from said neckband, the intermediate portion of said third side of the insert being unattached to the remainder of the collar.

JACOB V. COI-IN.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS record in the 

